Leaving Edmond kind of snuck up on us. After scrambling for a couple days to get everything packed, we are back in London. It's great to be here because my dad is here with us and I think we're going to have a great time, but it's been a long day.
We had our first semi-negative immigration experience today. It feels surprisingly awful for someone to be getting upset with you for trying to come into their country for a limited amount of time. We probably would have been able to take it better if we had a few more hours of sleep behind us, but things ended up working out ok. Unless an immigration officer shows up at our door later. I'm sure it will be fine. :)
My dad is with us for a week, visiting London for the first time and we are super excited to show him around all our favorite places. We took a ride on my favorite bus route today and tomorrow we're going to some of the weekend markets.
We are all exhausted right now so more updates will have to come later, but we wanted everyone to know that we already miss you. Thanks for always making us feel wanted Oklahoma. :)
Friday, March 29, 2013
Friday, March 1, 2013
Istanbul
tl;dr; OMG THERE'S A SLIDESHOW!!!
As most of you already know, B and I went to Istanbul a few weeks back. It was a lot of fun. Istanbul is a beautiful place, and it has a lot of fun history to explore.
We posted a few pictures, but took many many more. At the request of one of my favorite aunts, I've tried filter out the useless ones and post the rest.
For those unfamiliar with the area, I'll highlight a few so you have some idea of what you're looking at.
The Hagia Sophia is in Istanbul. One of the many things I learned about on the trip. It was originally built as a Christian church, then later converted to a mosque, and is now a museum. There is a space marked off towards the front that you can't walk on because it's where most of the Byzantine Emperors were crowned.
Sultan Ahmed Mosque or the Blue Mosque is another one of those Things I Learned About™. But mostly all I learned is that it is incredibly huge and incredibly beautiful. It sits across a long garden area from the Hagia Sophia.
There are islands of the coast that you can take a ferry to. I'm told that they're supposed to be a lot of fun, and I bet in the summer they are, but in February the main inhabitants seem to be stray dogs and cats. I think for the main point of us going there though was the boat ride, in which we were not disappointed. Also, since the city of Istanbul is on both sides of the Bosphorous, we got off the ferry on the other side and now we can say we've been to the continent of Asia. #winning
Topkapı Palace is probably the coolest palace I've toured so far, and I've been to my fair share of palaces. Maybe it's because this is the one I've been to most recently, maybe it's because it's a different style than almost all the others and that makes it stands out. I'm not really sure, but it was a lot of fun to explore, and I'm so incredibly glad that we got to put around inside it for a few hours.
As most of you already know, B and I went to Istanbul a few weeks back. It was a lot of fun. Istanbul is a beautiful place, and it has a lot of fun history to explore.
We posted a few pictures, but took many many more. At the request of one of my favorite aunts, I've tried filter out the useless ones and post the rest.
For those unfamiliar with the area, I'll highlight a few so you have some idea of what you're looking at.
The Grand Bazaar is in Istanbul. Pretty much think 'worlds first mall', and part of the fun is they haven't yet discovered those maps with "You are here" on them. It's gigantic, it's completely unorganized, and tons of fun. Becca was telling me on the plane over that people are concerned about the Grand Bazaar's stability in an earthquake because the shop owners keep removing parts of the walls to make more space in their shops. I believe it. Every available inch of store front space is crowded. The Grand Bazaar was one of the many places we went where I was glad we were visiting during an off season for tourists.
The Hagia Sophia is in Istanbul. One of the many things I learned about on the trip. It was originally built as a Christian church, then later converted to a mosque, and is now a museum. There is a space marked off towards the front that you can't walk on because it's where most of the Byzantine Emperors were crowned.
Sultan Ahmed Mosque or the Blue Mosque is another one of those Things I Learned About™. But mostly all I learned is that it is incredibly huge and incredibly beautiful. It sits across a long garden area from the Hagia Sophia.
There are islands of the coast that you can take a ferry to. I'm told that they're supposed to be a lot of fun, and I bet in the summer they are, but in February the main inhabitants seem to be stray dogs and cats. I think for the main point of us going there though was the boat ride, in which we were not disappointed. Also, since the city of Istanbul is on both sides of the Bosphorous, we got off the ferry on the other side and now we can say we've been to the continent of Asia. #winning
Topkapı Palace is probably the coolest palace I've toured so far, and I've been to my fair share of palaces. Maybe it's because this is the one I've been to most recently, maybe it's because it's a different style than almost all the others and that makes it stands out. I'm not really sure, but it was a lot of fun to explore, and I'm so incredibly glad that we got to put around inside it for a few hours.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Berlin
We were just getting used to Vienna when all of a sudden it was time to move on again.
So far we really love it in Berlin, besides the fact that it's freezing here. We loved Vienna, but we feel like it's a better place to visit and be amazed rather than spend a long period of time at least in the winter when it gets dark so early.
Our Berlin apartment is the smallest yet. We've run into each other a lot, but we really like it. It feels a lot more "us" than other places we've stayed. But I'll admit, we had to watch a YouTube video to figure out how to light our gas oven.
So, here are our thoughts after 2ish days:
Berlin is bustling. It has the beautiful parks and unusual sights that we missed from London. We are getting a little better at our German and we've pretty much figured out the public transportation. Right now, we are sitting in a workspace that Jake will work at almost every day and I will come to sometimes.
It seems like we've gotten a little faster about settling into a place, so hopefully Berlin will start to feel just like home before we take off again.
More to come soon, with pictures!
So far we really love it in Berlin, besides the fact that it's freezing here. We loved Vienna, but we feel like it's a better place to visit and be amazed rather than spend a long period of time
Our Berlin apartment is the smallest yet. We've run into each other a lot, but we really like it. It feels a lot more "us" than other places we've stayed. But I'll admit, we had to watch a YouTube video to figure out how to light our gas oven.
So, here are our thoughts after 2ish days:
Berlin is bustling. It has the beautiful parks and unusual sights that we missed from London. We are getting a little better at our German and we've pretty much figured out the public transportation. Right now, we are sitting in a workspace that Jake will work at almost every day and I will come to sometimes.
It seems like we've gotten a little faster about settling into a place, so hopefully Berlin will start to feel just like home before we take off again.
More to come soon, with pictures!
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